TEXARKANA MAGAZINE
(clockwise from top left) The Langdons in the mid 1950s—Gary, Reese, Dorothy, and Claudia In 1984, Dorothy Langdon enjoys a round of golf during a break from the AirCo convention in Scottsdale, Arizona. Her
son-in-law, Pete Snow, helping her line up the shot. Tiffany Snow Horton with her grandmother, Dorothy Langdon, at a wedding shower in 2002.
mother wouldn’t give her approval, but we went to the courthouse and got married anyway, being certain not to tell my family,” Tutu explained. “ That was November 15, 1941, during my last year of high school. I waited until school was finished in May, left Mildred a note that said I was leaving to marry Reese, and then took a Greyhound bus to Florida. By the time I got to Minden, [Louisiana], I already had a message at the bus station. Mildred had called, pleading with me to wait for her before I got married, but I told her the truth—that we’d already been married about six months. I’m glad that I got married when I did. I wouldn’t change that decision.” The Langdons lived in Tampa until Reese was sent to help with the cleanup of Pearl Harbor. My grandmother moved back to Mansfield, pregnant with her first child. The delivery was scary, almost killing her, and the small-town doctor informed her she should never have another baby. A job opportunity eventually took the young family to Houston, Texas, and their time there would be pivotal. “My doctor in Houston said I could definitely have another baby and that he could help me safely deliver,” Tutu said. “That’s when we had Claudia.” Just six months after Claudia’s arrival, the opportunity to buy a small welding supply store in Texarkana arose.
school, where she even had the opportunity to be a majorette. In her free time, she sang in a quartet or could be found at the movies. “I always wanted to be a movie star. I loved going to the movies after school and would watch anything that was playing. I even named my son Gary after Gary Cooper,” she said. It was during high school she met Reese Langdon. “I was out riding around with friends, and we were sitting three across in the front seat. One of my friends saw a group of boys that she knew and invited them to ride around with us. The boys were sitting in the back, and Reese reached up and pinched my hand. ‘He’s flirting,’ I thought, but I didn’t mind,” she said with a wink. Reese had moved to Mansfield when he joined the Army, but stayed there because of Tutu, getting a job as a welder at Neighbors’ Trailers. Later, during World War II, he joined the Navy as a Seabee and was set to be stationed in Tampa, Florida. Reese and Tutu knew that they wanted to get married and make this move together. “My
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SENIOR LIVING 2026
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